Shaw Manor · Down the Basement Steps, Past the Radio Room
Now showing · one night only, since 1997

The Screening Room

A basement video store with one tape that matters, one TV that still works, and a VCR that asks you to be kind.

Open late · Be kind, rewind

Back in 1997 the curator made a movie in high school. It has a title, a production company and a star, and it lives on a single VHS tape on the Staff Pick shelf. The tape has mold inside it, so the full movie can’t be played until it’s restored. Two short reels survived, filmed off a TV with a phone. They’re cued up in the VCR below.

Aisle 1

The Staff Pick Shelf

Every video store had a shelf the staff cared about. This one has a single slot that never gets rented out.

New Releases · Staff PicksPlease rewind before returning
Tape is in the VCR ↓
Staff Pick
Wiseguy Productions
THE LABEL READS: Joey · © 1997 · a wiseguy production
THE CASSETTE READS: JVC

The only copy, and the sticker isn’t kidding: there’s mold inside the shell, so the tape can’t be played all the way through until it’s restored. The case stays closed and the two saved reels play instead.

tap the tape, it knows the way ↓
Screening Room

Now Playing: Joey

Pull up a beanbag. Two reels survived: the opening and the star’s credit. The rest of the tape is still waiting on its restoration.

INSERT TAPEPress PLAY or pop the Joey tape in the VCR
Reel

The original sound was removed. Tape hiss is optional, made up in your browser, and starts off.

see also the Fisher-Price PXL2000 camcorder in the Camera Obscura →see also the General Electric Portable TV in the TV Room →
Roll Credits

The Credits

Only what’s on the tape and in the opening titles.

The Screening Room presents

Joey

(1997)

a wiseguy production

StarringAaron Wills

Reserved

The Director’s Chair

Folded up in the corner. Nobody sits in it.

The road not rolled

The kid who made Joey wanted to go to film school. He picked Telecommunications and Computer Science instead, because it seemed like the more logical path.

The tape stayed on the shelf, and the chair stayed folded.

“What if he’d become a director? Dreams…”

Manor lore · unverified
Some nights the chair is found unfolded, facing the TV, as if somebody wanted one more take.

Back Office

Projectionist’s Notes

Found taped to the side of the VCR, in handwriting nobody will admit to.

Late Fees & Rumors

Manor lore · unverified
  • The rental slip says the tape is 29 years overdue. The late fee has been waived, mostly out of fear.
  • The mold inside the shell has asked for a producer credit. The answer is still no.
  • The VCR clock blinks 12:00 forever, except when Reel 2 is playing.
  • Rewind it all the way and the counter sometimes reads one second less than zero.

None of this is on the label. Be kind, rewind.

Up the Stairs

Elsewhere in the Manor

The rest of the gear that recorded, played and showed things lives one door over.

Back through the curtain to the TV Room →The three-screen Sony console, the Now Showing set, the LaserDiscs and an orange-and-cream General Electric portable TV. Over to the Radio Room →The Pioneer tower, the turntable and the Walkman, across the hall from the TV Room. Up to the Camera Obscura →The old cameras, including a Fisher-Price PXL2000 that recorded video onto audio cassettes. Into the Tape Vault →More tapes on more shelves, none of them moldy (that we know of).